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Kevin Webster
Kevin John Webster is the majority owner of Websters' Auto Centre car repair garage in Coronation Street. He has been married to Sally Webster twice and is father of Rosie and Sophie. Kevin moved to the Street in 1984 with his father Bill and sister Debbie (his mother Alison died from cancer in 1980). Kevin was already working in the area as a mechanic at Tilsley's Garage, practicising a trade he has remained in unwaveringly since then. Cheerful and chirpy, Kevin was the salt of the earth, the perfect match for feisty Sally Seddon, whom he met in 1986. They got married nine months after meeting each other and bought No.13 from Hilda Ogden. Kevin liked an uncomplicated life; a job he enjoyed, a wife he adored, and the odd drink at his local with friends. But Kevin wasn't paid nearly enough to support the family after the births of Rosie in 1990 and Sophie in 1994, and eventually Sally went against his wishes by getting a job. By 1997 the couple were in a rut, and Kevin had an affair with Natalie Horrocks. When Sally found out she separated from Kevin and the following year they started divorce proceedings. While Kevin's heart arguably remained with Sally, he saw several other women during this period, most notably Alison Wakefield, who he married in 2000. They had a son, Jake, but after Jake's death from a Group B Streptococcus infection, Alison couldn't cope and threw herself under the wheels of a lorry. In 2002, Kevin finally persuaded Sally to take him back and they re-married, although Sally was doing it more for the girls' sake than because she loved Kevin. By this time, Kevin owned the garage on Coronation Street and ran it with Tyrone Dobbs. In 2009, Kevin fell for Tyrone's young bride Molly and they had an affair. Kevin called it off long before anyone found out, but the truth came out when Molly made a deathbed confession to Sally that her son Jack, born in 2010, was Kevin's. Kevin hoped that Sally would forgive him but she threw him out and pursued a second divorce. Biography 1965-1983: Early life Kevin was born on 3rd September 1965. The son of Bill and Alison Webster, Kevin grew up in Weatherfield with his parents and younger sister Debbie. Alison died from cancer in 1980 when Kevin was fifteen. When he left school, Kevin took a Youth Opportunity Scheme and trained as a car mechanic. 1983-1986: Arrival in Coronation Street On completing his course in 1983 aged nineteen, Kevin looked for work but couldn't find anything until he had a lucky encounter with Alf Roberts while hitchhiking back to Weatherfield in October that year. Alf's car broke down while passing him by, and Alf offered to give Kevin a lift home if he could get it going. When Kevin carried out the repairs with no trouble, the grateful shopkeeper recommended him to Brian Tilsley, owner of Tilsley's Garage in Canal Street, as Brian was looking for a mechanic to work alongside him. After a successful interview, Kevin was taken on. Within a few months, Kevin was a fixture in the Street, and could often be found in the Rovers Return playing Devil's Advocate to his friends Terry Duckworth and Curly Watts. In July 1984, Bill bought No.11 and the Websters moved into the Street; Bill was renting the Builder's Yard in Mawdsley Street from Rita Fairclough so it was a sensible move for the family. However it didn't provide the stability Bill was hoping for as within a year he'd become engaged to Elaine Prior, and the couple were planning to marry and move to Southampton. Kevin felt betrayed by Bill and blamed Elaine for breaking up the family; he refused to move with him and was planning not to go to the wedding until Brian talked him round. After the Websters moved, No.11 was bought by Harry Clayton and Kevin was homeless. Sympathetic Emily Bishop let him lodge at No.3, which meant sharing a room with Curly. This didn't bother Kevin much at first as they were already friends, but while Curly respected Emily's strict rules, the more laid-back Kevin found her a difficult landlady and, tired of being woken up daily at 5am by Curly's alarm, moved into No.13 with Terry's old landlady, Hilda Ogden, who he found far more easygoing. In May 1985, Terry set Kevin up on a double-date with Michelle Robinson. Kevin fell for Michelle and impressed her after fighting off her ex-boyfriend Malcolm Nuttall, who accused him of poaching Michelle. Kevin hadn't had much experience with women and, keen to lose his virginity, made a clumsy effort to seduce her in No.13 while Hilda was away. Their relationship survived but when Kevin started talking about marrying Michelle decided he was moving too fast and finished with him. 1986-1990: Kevin meets Sally Sally Seddon crossed paths with Kevin in January 1986 when Kevin accidentally splashed her with his car while she was on her way to a job interview. Kevin obligingly took her home to dry off and any animosity was soon forgotten as they ended up arranging a date. As with Michelle, it didn't take Kevin long to decide that Sally was the only woman for him. The first obstacle in their relationship was Hilda, who knew the Seddons were rough and thought Sally was the same. It was only after she'd had time to get to know Sally that Hilda warmed to her. Kevin's protective side showed when he feared Terry was after Sally as he'd given her a secretarial job at the yard and when Kevin saw Sally on Terry's knee, he went for him. In May, with Hilda away, Kevin and Sally spent the night together for the first time. This resulted in Sally's father Eddie throwing her out and Hilda refused to have Sally living with them when she found out they'd betrayed her trust. When she found out Sally was expected to hand in her dole money to Eddie, however, Hilda changed her mind and let Sally move in - but Sally soon grew tired of living under Hilda's watchful eye and moved out back in with her parents. With Sally working as a barmaid at the Rovers and Kevin continuing at the garage, the lovestruck couple discovered that they could afford to marry and saw no reason to wait. None of their family attended the Registry Office ceremony; the Websters had moved to Germany and Sally had been disowned for leaving her parents for Kevin. The newlyweds lived at No.13 with Hilda now fully supportive of them. In spite of the freedom Hilda gave the couple, Sally wanted a place that was their own and convinced Kevin to go for the flat above the Corner Shop, where she was now working. Alf agreed to rent it to them but at the end of 1987 Hilda offered to sell No.13 to them at a knock-down price and they accepted, despite Kevin's reluctance at taking on a mortgage. They nearly didn't get a mortgage as Sally had an unpaid debt which she hadn't declared when applying as she'd forgotten about it. Kevin applied for a mortgage in his name and told the building society the truth about previously being refused a mortgage; he was relieved when they were impressed with his honesty. Kevin had now been working under Brian for five years and was content with this; he liked working for someone else and not having the responsibility of running a business. In January 1989, he refused to put £1,000 of Sally's money into the garage but a few weeks later Brian was murdered, losing Kevin a friend and job security. He was annoyed when Gail didn't involve him in the sale of the garage, only asking him if he could match Tom Casey's offer of £18,000 within 24 hours as she wanted a quick sale. As Kevin hadn't the money, and didn't like taking loans, Tom bought the garage and installed his son Mark as trainee under Kevin, who was kept on as manager. As Mark was the boss's son, Kevin wasn't sure how to treat him but was encouraged by Tom not to give him special treatment. Kevin followed the instructions too well; he fired Mark for inefficiency, only to reinstate him later after missing him. The following year, the situation was reversed when Mark was given the garage as a birthday present; Kevin quit on hearing that he was going to have to work under Mark after being his boss but later changed his mind and stayed, swallowing his pride. In April 1990, at the dinner table, Sally surprised Kevin with the news that she was pregnant. Rosie was born on 24th December that year, delivered by Liz McDonald in Don Brennan's taxi as Sally had gone into labour while Kevin was out repairing Alf's car as he and Audrey were on their way to a WART function. 1991-1994: Nuclear family Money was a perennial worry of the Websters'. Kevin cut short his paternity leave to return to work and did private repair jobs to earn more cash. In January 1991, Kevin crashed into a tree while taking customer Terry Seymour's car to the garage. Mark refused to claim on the garage's insurance and sacked Kevin for moonlighting. Fortunately Kevin was almost immediately taken on at Henderson's Garage but he was left with a £1,250 legal bill, with Seymour threatening court action if it wasn't paid in two weeks. Proud Kevin refused loans from his friends, insisting they'd find a way to pay the money, but when nothing turned up he grudgingly accepted Sally's mum Elsie's offer to bail them out. On finishing her maternity leave, Sally decided to stay at home with Rosie but returned to the shop in July, working evenings. Kevin didn't enjoy his work at Henderson's as he didn't get on with his boss; in October, after being late for the first time ever, Kevin was sacked. By now, Kevin felt he could set up on his own and tried servicing cars in the Street, but the police made him move when Derek Wilton complained that it was an eyesore. His relationship with Sally was strained as Sally was growing frustrated with Kevin's refusal to consider other lines of work. Kevin had an unlikely saviour in Mike Baldwin. When Kevin's dole was stopped when he was found to be servicing a fleet of vans owned by a friend of Mike's, Mike offered to set Kevin up in business in Unit 16 in Coronation Street, calling the garage MVB Motors. Kevin was wary of Mike but accepted the offer graciously. He greatly enjoyed turning down Mark Casey a job as assistant and buying up most of Casey's Garage's equipment cheaply at auction when it went out of business. Kevin and Mike soon clashed. In January 1992, Mike secured a contract by giving client Jack Halliwell a £1,000 backhander, and told Kevin to make the money back by fiddling the company's bills. Kevin felt dishonest but did as Mike told him. Their working relationship continued like this; in December that year, Steve McDonald, who worked at Mike's printing factory MVB Prints, crashed Mike's Jaguar and gave his name as Kevin Webster as he had lied about passing his driving test. Again, Kevin went along with Mike's instructions by presenting his licence to the police. Mike enjoyed Kevin's discomfort, thinking him amusingly naive, but the fraud was uncovered in June 1993 when Doug Murray stole Mike's Jaguar and the CID interviewed Kevin and realised he wasn't the man from the crash. Kevin and Steve were charged with perverting the course of justice. Kevin pled guilty in court and was livid when he was fined £800 while Steve got only 200 hours community service; Steve's barrister had accused Kevin of leading Steve astray. 1993 was a difficult year for the Websters. While Kevin dealt with his court case, Joe Broughton tried to tempt Sally into an affair. A registered childminder, Sally was minding Joe's son Jonathan. Attracted to Sally, Joe preyed on her weariness over Kevin's troubles and his moping. Hazel Broughton warned Kevin that they were having an affair but Kevin refused to believe it, trusting Sally without question. In January 1994, Kevin went to pay the first installment of his fine but discovered that somebody had already paid it. He punched Joe, thinking he was playing a game to win Sally over but it was actually Mike's wife Alma who had paid it, to spite Mike. Kevin worked out a repayment scheme with the Baldwins, while Sally made Joe realise that she would never leave Kevin for him. In March, Sally told Kevin she was pregnant again. He was angry at first, saying they couldn't afford another child, but quickly came round to the idea and supported Sally. While he took on extra work chauffering for Mike, Sally received help from Rita Sullivan, who gave the family £5,000 as she had come to care about them. Sophie was born on 4th November; this time Kevin was on hand to take Sally to hospital and be there for the birth. 1995-1998: Break-up of the house of Webster In 1995, Bill returned to Weatherfield when Elaine left him. It was the first time Kevin had seen his father in ten years, and the first time he'd met Sally. Changes were afoot at the garage. In November, Kevin persuaded Mike to give Tony Horrocks a job of mechanic to work alongside him, a position Jim McDonald had recently been fired from. In March 1996, Mike decided to sell the garage but while the bank agreed to give Kevin a 90% loan, which he could afford, Kevin showed no interest as he knew Mike would only sell a poisoned chalice, and despite Sally pushing him towards buying it he still only wanted to service cars, not run a business. Don Brennan bought the garage and quickly ran it into the ground; a lot of the equipment needed replaced and Don wasted money by giving taxi drivers discounts. When Don's girlfriend and business partner Josie Clarke left him, a desperate Don asked Kevin to buy into the business but Kevin, while worried about his job, refused to back him. The bank reclaimed the garage and after a few days working at Fastfitters garage, Kevin and Tony went into partnership and bought their old workplace for only £25,000. With his experience, Kevin was quickly able to turn the garage's fortunes around. Tony soon got bored with the work and his left his mother Natalie to take care of his side of the business. Kevin was fine with it as she did the books, a job he didn't like, but quickly realised divorcee Natalie fancied him and and enjoyed making him uncomfortable by trying to flirt with him. Chris Collins, recently taken on by Kevin as a mechanic, suggested that he go for it, as Sally was away nursing her mother in Scarborough, as Elsie had had a stroke. Eventually, Kevin did succumb to temptation; on a high after a win at the races with Chris, Kevin ran into Natalie and ended up going back to her house and having sex with her. At first, Kevin accused Natalie of seducing him and refused to see her again but had to admit that he did have feelings for her. With Sally absent, Kevin succumbed to temptation and embarked on an affair. Natalie quickly wanted to know where she stood; Kevin still loved Sally and was wracked with guilt about betraying her. After telling a suspicious Rita that he wasn't having an affair, Kevin went to see Sally in Scarborough, leaving Natalie fearing the worst, but when he returned he went on a dirty weekend with her, pulling out the phone wires so Sally wouldn't phone in his absence. Bill was the next to become suspicious, but he went as far as to contact Sally and advise her to come home immediately. Sally returned to a moody Kevin and reports of Natalie hanging around at No.13, and cottoned on when Kevin lied about his whereabouts to be with Natalie. Catching them in bed at Natalie's house, Sally launched herself at Kevin and broke down. Kevin's first instinct was to dump Natalie and make up with Sally. He followed Sally and the girls back to Scarborough but aside from a brief few hours when Rosie went missing, Sally didn't want to see him and threw him out of No.13 on her return to Weatherfield. With nothing except Natalie left, Kevin let her take him in but, after missing Rosie's nativity play to nurse an ill Natalie, Kevin made it up to the girls and told Sally he was sorry for everything and that he still loved her. To prove he meant it, he dumped Natalie, telling her he never really loved her and he was returning to Sally, but Natalie hit back by alerting him to the fact that Sally was secretly sleeping with Chris. Kevin still left Natalie but was too hurt to return to Sally, moving instead into a B&B. On Christmas Day 1997, Sally let Kevin celebrate with her and the girls. When the couple got sentimental, they realised they didn't really want to separate and decided to try a reconciliation, with Kevin moving back into No.13. It didn't work; inside of trust, the Websters were full of insecurities, with Sally objecting to Natalie's involvement in the business even though Kevin couldn't do anything about it, and Kevin helping Des Barnes uncover his girlfriend Samantha Failsworth's affair with Chris to get back at Chris. When Elsie died in May 1998, Kevin suggested they use the inheritance money to buy Natalie out of the garage so they could be rid of her. Sam got revenge on Kevin by telling Sally that Kevin really wanted to run away with Natalie and the inheritance money. When Kevin was proved to be innocent, he wrongly believed that it had actually helped his marriage but Sally soon realised she didn't love Kevin anymore and started an affair with Greg Kelly. On his advice, she decided not to put her money into the garage, and Kevin ended up taking out a loan against No.13 to buy out Natalie himself. For a while, Kevin remained confused about Sally's intentions but later spotted her kissing Greg. He threw her out of the house and refused to let her see the girls. Sally eventually took matters into her own hands and took Rosie and Sophie from him, moving them in with her in the shop flat, turning the tables on him. During this difficult period, Kevin learned that Natalie had got engaged to Des and, drunk in the Rovers, proposed to her himself, resulting in Alec Gilroy throwing him out. In December 1998, Kevin discovered that Greg had beaten Sally and that he'd been after her money all along, just as Kevin had suspected. Sally willingly let Kevin have the girls back while she moved in with Rita. Kevin surprised Sally by asking for a divorce, with him getting custody of the girls as she wasn't fit to take care of them. Personality Relationships Hobbies and interests Other information Background information External links *Kevin Webster at Corrie.net Category:Coronation Street characters Category:Current characters Category:Webster family Category:1965 births Category:1986 marriages Category:2000 marriages Category:2002 marriages Category:Residents of 11 Coronation Street Category:Residents of 13 Coronation Street Category:Residents of 4 Coronation Street Category:Garage owners Category:Mechanics Category:1983 debuts Category:Residents of 3 Coronation Street Category:Residents of 7 Coronation Street Category:Corner shop flat residents Category:Residents of 9a Rosamund Street